this ref - honestly i've not seen a more one sided half

we had a 3 on 2 at the very end that a calmer ball would have put Saka 1v1 in to win it

we had a 3 on 2 at the very end that a calmer ball would have put Saka 1v1 in to win it

Piss off. We deserved to lose that game. 2-0 up and cruising against a mid table Liverpool side who hadn't own in their last 4 games.

Piss off. We deserved to lose that game. 2-0 up and cruising against a mid table Liverpool side who hadn't own in their last 4 games.

We threw that away with a weak mentality but Arteta's game management was piss poor today.

It was obvious Zinchenko's weakness as a defender and tendency to wander out of position was going to be exploited, he should have put Tierney on at LB at halftime, taken off Xhaka and pushed Zinny into central midfield.

I thought Ben White was shite, Ødegaard was anonymous and Xhaka was his old idiotic self.

Ramsale was superb and saved us from getting beat.

Deserved to lose?
Liverpool had nothing for 45 minutes. They made it a fight and were allowed to make it a fight. There were no huge decisions that decided the game as I thought Tierney would send one of ours off - but the momentum shift was allowed to go unchecked.

Look at the late chances we had as well. It was a game that could have gone either way.

At Anfield you are always going to come under huge pressure at some point and need your gk to make saves. We were 5 minutes away - it was hardly a bottle job some will make it out to be

But yet Zinchenko was in the perfect position for their 2nd, he got done with a bit of skill, he wasn't out of position

Come on Rich, our game management was awful after going 2-0 up and Arteta's substitutions were far too late in the day, particularly the Tierney one
which should have happened much much earlier.

Deserved to lose?
Liverpool had nothing for 45 minutes. They made it a fight and were allowed to make it a fight. There were no huge decisions that decided the game as I thought Tierney would send one of ours off - but the momentum shift was allowed to go unchecked.

Look at the late chances we had as well. It was a game that could have gone either way.

At Anfield you are always going to come under huge pressure at some point and need your gk to make saves. We were 5 minutes away - it was hardly a bottle job some will make it out to be

Lesson for the travelling support, don't sing 'we're gonna win the league' after 30 minutes at Anfield. Thought Arteta was struck with inertia in the second half. Liverpool still have great players but we weren't clever enough to deal with a biased ref and switched momentum. Overall, though a point is ok and in the cold light of day it will be accepted as such.

Roy Keane has just said Arsenal should be delighted with the point and defending that Kop is just incredibly difficult. Keane isn't known for his low standards.

I think you can always look at games with hindsight, zinchenko was still the best way of us having any form of control when we had the ball in the second half. It is too easy to say changing your left-back would have won that game for us.

I think the problem Arteta has is when he looks at the bench he doesn't see many options to slot in to the side and play the game how he wants to play it.
yes he can do a straight swap at LB and he can bring Trossard on - but that is really about it.
swapping the LB is a very different way for us to play - and to be honest if I was to either back Arteta's tactical decisions vs fans who react with hindsight.

There was not one person on the forum who said zinchenko should be subbed off for Tierney at any point in the game

I think putting Tierney on at LB and Zinny into midfield instead of Xhaka leaves us more defensively solid whilst allowing Zinny to use his technical skills higher up the pitch without so much defensive responsibility.

I think putting Tierney on at LB and Zinny into midfield instead of Xhaka leaves us more defensively solid whilst allowing Zinny to use his technical skills higher up the pitch without so much defensive responsibility.

No one said that, I said Tierney should have come on at LB making us more defensively solid against a team who on top, slot Zinny into midfield and take Xhaka or even Ødegaard off.

Jorginho for Xhaka was an option either. Taking off Ødegaard was very odd. But....Arteta has done a phenomenal job so it's hard to be critical.

After the final whistle. That change is a tactic that Arteta hasn't done once this season, to play Tierney and Zinchenko.

Yes I agree 100%

I don't think it was a game for Jorginho - it was too frantic for him. He's good at keeping the ball and recycling it, but under immense press and pressure he can get picked off

But as I said it is not a tactic Arteta thinks makes us more defensively solid. He hasn't done it once this season, despite numerous games where we had a 1 goal lead and successfully closed out the game.